BBC One Orders ‘Rillington Place’ Murder Serial Based On Real Events

Based on a series of murders that took place in the 1940s and 50s in London’s Notting Hill neighborhood, Rillington Place has been set as a three-part drama. BBC Drama Production is producing in association with Bandit Television, part of the Endemol Shine Group, for BBC One. Ed Whitmore (He Kills Coppers) and Tracey Malone (Born To Kill), are scripting. Shooting starts at the end of March.

Rillington Place focuses on the true stories of murderer John Christie, his wife Ethel, and their neighbor Timothy Evans, who all lived at the infamous Number 10. Told from each of their viewpoints, the drama explores the relationships and individual actions that led to a tragic miscarriage of justice, which contributed to the abolition of capital punishment in Britain.

Christie murdered at least eight women, including Ethel, strangling them in his flat. He moved out in 1953; the bodies of three victims later were discovered hidden in the kitchen. He was arrested and convicted of his wife’s murder, and hanged. But not before Evans was charged with the murders of his own wife, Beryl, and daughter Geraldine, who were also tenants of the house. Evans was hanged in 1950. Christie later admitted killing Beryl Evans, but not Geraldine. Evans was granted a posthumous pardon in 1966.

The story was previously adapted as a 1971 feature, 10 Rillington Place, directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Richard Attenborough, John Hurt and Judy Geeson. Casting is still to come on the BBC One drama which Craig Viveiros (And Then There Were None) is helming.

Exec producers are Phillippa Giles for Bandit and Hilary Salmon for BBC Drama.

2 Comments

Disgruntled Viewer • on Feb 3, 2016 7:30 am

“10 Rillington place” directed by Richard Fleischer is one of the most perfect crime thrillers ever made.

jreid824 • on Feb 3, 2016 5:46 pm

I agree! It is a carefully crafted movie, with stellar performances by Richard Attenborough and a very young John Hurt. Fleischer did a masterful job of drawing out the characters of these two real life men entangled in a true, terrible tragedy.